Walk with me
by profoundfrivolity
Summary: Dorian Gray and Lily Frank meet on 31 December, 2017. A request is made and an answer given. Blurb: "I wasn't sure that you would show up tonight," confessed Dorian, and Lily stilled before meeting his measured gaze. "I wasn't sure that I would turn up either. But then, I thought, twenty years is long enough to be able to stomach you for a few hours."


**31 December, 2017**

The man was dressed in a vintage black tuxedo, an ivory formal scarf lending a rakish air to his youthful face. From the diamonds winking at his cuffs to the high shine on his polished loafers, Dorian Gray was dripping in class and old-world money. He had recently returned to his hairstyle of yore and let his fringe lengthen till it fell across his brow in a stylish manner.

Dorian's manicured pianist fingers were wrapped around the stem of a champagne glass but his eyes remained restless, darting from one doorway to another. He made small talk with the movers and shakers of Chicago as he moved across the lavishly decorated hall, and rolled his eyes at the silly enthusiasm the room's occupants displayed towards the beginning of another new year.

'2018!' banners emblazoned the walls and Dorian, progressive though he may be, reminisced of the time when glittering balls were held for New Years' celebrations in the heart of London. The only saving grace was that these hallways were better-ventilated and that they served sushi here, his current favorite food. Then of course, there was the twang of American accents clashing with an entire platoon of European tongues, a smattering of Chinese and Arabic thrown in the mix. He quite liked the delicious din they created, unlike the upper-crust British accent he had been subjected to for far too long.

Dorian's gaze settled on a famous Hollywood actress and he recalled watching a recent movie of hers, a period piece which she had played rather admirably. The accent and gait had been a bit off, but then these young creatures wouldn't understand the difference anyway, not unless they'd been there themselves, as he had. That Queen had been far to impetuous for her own good. Why couldn't people just relax, he thought as he idly made his way to the actress.

But just then, he heard a sudden chattering of the fashion denizens- they had a certain inflection to their voices which he could recognize from miles away- and realized that at long last, she was here.

No one else could cause quite the murmur around a room the way Lily Frank did.

His head swiveled towards the entrance, abandoning his previous trajectory, and there she stood- twinkling in diamonds and donned in the shortest skirt imaginable. Ah yes, there were other perks to the change in times- dresses that bared more skin than ever before.

She had dyed her hair purple for the occasion, which matched the mini skirt that barely touched the tops of her thighs and had an extravagant train behind her. Her ample bosom was clad in a velvet mauve top which had an extremely modest neckline but he laughed out loud when she handed over her robe to the attendant- it was one of those clever sartorial tricks which covered up everything in the front but left nothing to imagination at the back.

He stalked his way towards her and was about to grab drinks for them, when she called his name and turned around to face him with a pair of champagne glasses in her hands.

"Dorian"

"Lily"

They stared at each other at length, before Lily closed the distance and handed him one of the glasses. Dorian took a sip and made a rather obvious show of licking his upper lip. Lily grinned humorlessly nd said, "So, another New Year. Why did you pick Chicago?"

"Oh, haven't you heard? I live here now. Have for quite some time actually. Got bored of Tokyo, so I had to move."

"You, bored?" mocked Lily in a droll tone and moved to pass by him but Dorian blocked her way.

"I wasn't sure that you would show up tonight," confessed Dorian and Lily stilled before meeting his measured gaze.

"I wasn't sure that I would turn up either. But then, I thought, twenty years is long enough to be able to stomach you for a few hours."

Dorian laughed at that and threw back the rest of the champagne, shaking his head at her hostility.

"And yet, here you are..."

"And yet, here I am."

Lily turned from him then and swept her way to the upper deck, furnished with cushier seats, pricier wine and a more coveted menu. Dorian followed suit, mentally cursing the blasted train that didn't let him close enough to inhale Lily's scent. It had faded from the shirt she had borrowed from him 2 decades ago and he often found himself craving it, much like a toddler longed for a favorite blanket.

They settled in a cozy alcove across from each other and the couple informed their dinner preferences to the waiter hovering nearby.

"I have a proposition, Lily," whispered Dorian and Lily raised her eyebrows in feigned surprise.

"Why am I not surprised, Dorian? Nineteen years of rejecting your incessant invitations for New Years and then this year, you decide to bombard me with an entire nursery of flowers, a library worth of first-edition books and even those annoying singing telegrams. I knew something was up," she exclaimed, letting her fingers dance around the base of the champagne glass.

"Aha! I knew that the singing telegram would work, although I wasn't sure if they even have those in Dubai!" grinned Dorian, "You see, I have something important to discuss with you. Something about a new beginning and when better to start than on New Year's Eve?"

"Go on," said Lily, a slightly intrigued look on her face.

"You see, lately, I have been feeling particularly restless. Almost as though I am bored of my boredom, if such a thing makes any sense."

"More than you can know, Dorian."

"Yes, and that's exactly it! Only you can truly understand my predicament! I have scoured the entire planet for any more immortal humans and have turned up empty. This is what I have been doing since we last met, by the way. _This_ is why I have been urging you to meet me, so I can tell you that it's just us, Lily. You and me. Forever."

"Well, now I know. I had been living under that impression anyway, so what it your point?"

"My point is that when we had met at the 1997 New Year's party, something you had said had struck a chord."

"And pray tell what was it that sent you on a search that spanned the entire planet?" asked Lily but was interrupted by their waiter serving up appetizers and refreshing their drinks.

"Well, you said that there was no one like us, at all. And that I was doomed for eternity if I didn't truly grasp the meaning of this. Even then, I took it quite literally and searched for more like us. I never understood that my boredom stemmed from the very novelty that I marveled upon. I confess I still don't quite understand what you mean," muttered Dorian, lost in thought.

Lily considered him then, drinking in his deceptively unblemished face and youthful vigor. Oh, how utterly lonely he seemed underneath it all. His loneliness spoke to her own with shocking intensity and without even meaning to, she whispered, "What do you want from me, Dorian?"

"I want you to teach me how to care, Lily. I want you to teach me passion and curiosity and all that makes you... you," said Dorian, his voice breaking at the last syllable.

Lily looked at Dorian in shock, trying to make sense of his strange request.

"Dorian Gray! Have you been experimenting with drugs again? I remember when I met you in the seventies. 1970s that is, and you were completely submerged in the psychedelic culture. Is this something like that?" said Lily, faintly amused by the memory of Dorian in bell bottoms and his shoulder-length hair decorated with flowers. The hedonist in him had particularly enjoyed that era.

"Ah, the good old seventies. What a difference some opium can make to a man's constitution. And an entire country, for that matter! I had lived in America for so long then, before moving on to Tibet. You used to be in Angola at the time, aiding with the decolonization, yes?"

Lily nodded in assent and murmured, "So if its not drugs, then what is it? Are you really that bored with everything else that you have now come to toy with little old me?"

Lily's words may have been spoken lightly but Dorian recognized the unyielding steel beneath them.

"Toy with you? Never!" said Dorian, completely taken aback by the accusation, "No, darling, I realize now that it was my mistake to blurt out my thoughts in such a manner. I reckon it's the part of me that belongs to this age. How careless people have become with their words now, haven't they?"

"Yes, but you have always been completely at ease with whatever age you have found yourself in, isn't it, my dear chameleon?"

Dorian nodded at that and took another swig from his champagne, feeling the bubbles tickle his palate.

"That has been both, a boon and a bane. I can easily move on from one time to another because I have no attachments, Lily. I believe the first time you'd turned away from me, I had said as much?"

"Yes, you don't need to remind me, Dorian," replied Lily, not wanting to relive their ugliest memory to date.

"Oh, but I do. I need to remind you because I need you to know how wrong I was. And yet, I still am not aware of the depth of my mistake. You know that saying 'I don't know what I don't know'?" asked Dorian, looking directly into Lily's eyes, forcing her to witness the sincerity of his words, "I don't think I have ever known true emotion. So, I need you to teach me, Lily. I need you to teach me how to live, and how to stop being alone. Most of all, I need you to teach me how to... love. I need your grace, Lily," he said, tears filling up his eyes in a rare, unguarded moment.

Lily thought of the first and only time she had trusted him... Eons ago, at a time when her creator had lived and she was full of righteous anger and such bloodthirsty rage that it had blinded her to the trap she had merrily been led into by the very man sitting across from her.

She had swore then that she will never again trust Dorian Gray for as long as she existed.

Sure, they had stayed in touch with each other, unable to escape from the other's hold, try as they might. Lily remembers when Dorian had provided her with safe passage during World War I and how she had reciprocated the favor in the one that followed. Tsunamis and political turmoils and even the odd run-in with the law or investing misstep. And naturally, they had always fallen in bed together, reveling in rediscovering each other's bodies and revisiting all the moves that worked particularly well in their previous trysts. They had been only a letter or a telegram or phone call away, their means of contact changing with the times. Even now, Dorian Gray remained on her speed dial #1.

Who else were they going to turn towards?

But there was a difference between sharing her body and her heart. The latter was far more precious than the former. When Victor Frankenstein had given her an immortal body, he failed to give her an untouchable heart. And that heart of hers was far more fragile than she ever let on.

Lily always hid behind her impenetrable facade and she could not remember the last time she had let her defenses down... Ah, yes. Dear Victor, she remembered now. It was the last time she had spoken of her little Sarah, at least out loud. She still visited her tiny grave every time she was on the continent, but as they say, time heals all wounds- even the cruel ones like those of a mother losing her only child. It even helped her forgive and forget Dorian's betrayal.

Now, she was just tired. Oh, how tired she was. How completely spent she was and how lonesome, traversing this vast planet with no place to call home. Once, she had seen a home in Dorian Gray- Had known it the moment she had stepped into Dorian's ballroom another lifetime ago, at Angelique's debutante ball. She could still feel the warmth of Dorian's gaze as she had basked in his lavish attention and open affection. Seems like time could change a lot but not that.

But then, he had betrayed her and she had closed that door forever. Now, he was begging for her open up that same door and she couldn't decide whether it was worth the risk or not. Should she exact her revenge now and repay his unkindness by turning him down?

The waiter interrupted her train of thoughts by replacing their barely-touched plate of appetizers with the delectable chef's special for their entrees.

Dorian remained silent during her introspection, respecting her need to consider his proposal with care. He was cutting into his steak when Lily suddenly said, "Dorian."

The knife clattered out of Dorian's hand and that was when Lily realized how incredibly nervous he was, trying to hide away his anxious impatience by cutting his steak into precise morsels. Maybe he really did understand the gravity of his request, and what it would mean should she acquiesce.

"Lily?"

"Are you sure I am the right person for this? I have committed unimaginable sins. I have murdered and plundered and lied and spied my way through the ages. I am not sure I will be able to grant you this... grace that you speak of. How can a sinner help another on the way to Heaven?"

"Lily, I know you. Don't you think I'm unaware of how you've led your life up until now? I've obviously kept tabs on you this entire time, the way you have too. How else did we keep showing up or sending help and rescuing each other? Remember that time in Belgrave? And that godforsaken back-alley of Moscow?"

Lily laughs at the memories and the game of tiptoe they had played around each other, across continents and the seven seas.

"And even after all that, you still want me?"

"It is precisely _because_ of all that, that I want you, Lily. Because I know that your heart has been in the right place, ruthless though your actions may have been. I don't want an angel for I am no saint myself," said Dorian, bending as close as the dining table would allow him, "For I do not seek Heaven nor do I deserve redemption. I just want you to simply walk with me, Lily... And perhaps you'd like the same?"

Lily considered the pleading desperation threaded through Dorian's words and thought about how they had been circling each other around the globe for the better part of two centuries. So why was it so hard to give into what he was asking? She may have been resurrected for Victor's Creature, but he had long since vanished, and it was here that she belonged.

It was inevitable. _They_ were inevitable. So, she made up her mind and took in a deep breath.

"Call me Brona?"

"I thought you didn't go by that anymore. I mean, not since..."

"I know. But it's been centuries since I've heard anyone call me that. And as much as I love Lily, if we are to do this, I would like to recover a bit of Brona too," said Lily, her eyes beseeching Dorian with a strange emotion.

Longing, Dorian realized. That one emotion he had only tasted once when the mysterious Vanessa Ives had denied his advances and then had avoided ever since- or so he thought. What befuddled him was that he never realized how much he longed for Lily after all... Not Lily, Brona. He longed for Brona and though this was not like the gaping wound that Miss Ives had inflicted upon him, it was more like a thousand pinpricks, quietly bleeding away without him even realizing the damage done until he fell to his feet, lightheaded and disoriented.

He longed for Brona... Why, fancy that!

"Brona..." whispered Dorian, and Brona suddenly burst into tears, her diamonds glittering in the candlelight as shudders wracked her body. Dorian quickly rushed to her side, throwing an arm around her convulsing shoulders and sweeping her in a tight embrace.

"Please stop crying. If it causes you this much pain, know that I wouldn't want this. My soul may be damned but I don't want to mar it with your tears. Not any more than I already have. I couldn't," exclaimed Dorian, sending Lily into a fresh rush of tears.

It seemed as though eternity passed while she cried, but they both knew better. Time moved in strange ways, especially when one had all of it.

A while later, Lily said, "I'm alright. Just felt really good to hear someone call me by the name my parents had given me. Sad though it may mean, I still treasure it. I could almost hear my mother's voice echo just then. Thank you, Dorian."

Dorian wiped at her face with his napkin, knowing she would hate to see the smeared mascara running down her face, "There. All better. And thank _you_ \- To call you by a name you hold so dear... The privilege is all mine _._ "

Lily laughed, "My, I sure wish that the men of today's day and age still had these dazzling manners of yours. They're all still scoundrels but at least you have the charm to soften the blow. And as for what you said earlier, you didn't cause me any pain. In fact, my acceptance of your proposal makes me excited, for the first time in a very long time actually..."

She looked up from her eyelashes to see Dorian's face light up with dawning understanding as he rose to his feet, swinging her against him.

"Really? You'll be with me? You'll... Stay?"

"Yes, really. I'll stay as long as you don't grow bored of me."

"Bored of you? Why, Miss Brona, I don't think that's at all possible! You might remember that even when we'd initially parted, it was never due to boredom."

"It was because you did not agree with my _passion_ ," reminisces Brona, thinking back to the day she had turned her back on him, more than two centuries ago.

"Precisely. And now, that is the very thing I want you to teach me, even if takes the rest of eternity to do so," said Dorian, bringing her hand to his lips, "And I have to say, I'm quite hoping it does."

Dorian lightly kissed Brona's knuckles then, and watched her throat work in convulsive flutters. He liked that he could do that to her. That as jaded as they may both be, he could act like a schoolboy holding her hand and she, his favorite sweetheart.

Just then, a voice called from below, "Ladies and gentlemen, the countdown is starting now!"

Promptly, everyone began making their way downstairs towards the stage downstairs, where stood a famous TV host and a model by his side. An enormous digital clock hung from the center of the room, and the cacophony rose to drown out the jazz band playing in the background.

"Ah, such fools!" said Dorian, rolling his eyes at the childish display of eagerness.

"Lesson one: We don't roll our eyes at the happiness of others, Dorian," chided Brona, a smile playing on her lips. Her smile made him happy, Dorian realized, not the cynical ones but the genuine one she was giving him right at that moment.

"But they aren't even happy, Brona! Most of them are just using this night as an excuse of trying to get in each other's pants. Then there are those who are making unrealistic resolutions that they will break within a day, two max. And even the few who are schmoozing their wives or bosses. Ugh, they sicken me."

But what you don't realize is... They all have hope. Twisted and misguided though it might be, they carry hope. And that is a beautiful thing, Dorian," said Brona, gently framing Dorian's face with her hands, "That is what we need to make it too. To make our life whole and give it meaning. To give us purpose and peace and happiness."

"Hope?"

"Yes, hope."

The crowd below started shouting out the final seconds to the new year, "10!"

"So, here's to hope then."

"Here's to hope," echoed Brona, clutching at Dorian's waist as her gathered her impossibly close.

"You should know, I am never letting you go now, Brona."

"I should hope not. We _have_ been skirting around each other for what seems like centuries already."

Dorian laughed at that and started nibbling at Brona's jawline, feeling her melt in his arms.

"5!"

"Here's to us, thee and me."

"Here's to our eternity."

The entire hall burst into clamor and cheer and clapping as the clock struck midnight, and cloistered away from all the noise downstairs, a man and woman remained locked in a passionate embrace, claiming each other forevermore.


End file.
